Genesee Street

Developing a welcoming gateway to downtown Buffalo

Genesee Street is a major corridor for inbound and outbound access to downtown Buffalo. A publicly-funded project transformed Genesee Street into a welcoming gateway and a vibrant streetscape that improved safety and accessibility for pedestrians and bicyclists. The project involved the replacement of curb, sidewalk, street lighting, and traffic control signals. Curb extensions were constructed between Washington Street and Oak Street to shorten the crossing distance across Genesee Street for pedestrians and to calm traffic operations. The lanes were reconfigured from two lanes in each direction with parking to one lane in each direction with a center turn lane, parking lanes and bicycle lanes on both sides of the street. The pavement was resurfaced from Washington Street to Michigan Avenue, and new signs and pavement markings were installed to improve visibility and safety.

Other improvements included a makeover of Remembrance Park that included landscaping, customized granite monuments memorializing the events of September 11th, pavement treatments, benches and other amenities. Green infrastructure was incorporated into the project by capturing stormwater runoff and storing it in a reservoir course beneath rain gardens or stormwater planters with infiltration to the underlying subgrade. The rain gardens were filled with vegetation and a soil mix designed to filter dirt and pollutants.